Kids pick healthy food with attractive packaging

While it's common for parents to encourage their children to eat healthily, a new study has revealed that primary school-aged children will reach for healthy food on their own accord, if it comes in attractive packaging.

Working in cooperation with the Research Institute for Child Nutrition in Dortmund, a team of scientists at the University of Bonn, Germany, set out to investigate the relationship between marketing techniques and children's eagerness to choose healthy foods.

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For the study, they recruited 179 children from primary schools in Dortmund, aged between eight and ten.

The children were asked to choose between three identical yoghurt, fruit and cereal snacks - but the only thing that differed was the packaging designs. The first packaging design was plain, the second displayed additional health information, and the third packaging design displayed cartoon characters and an attractive product name.

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To determine the participants' motivation to choose a particular snack, the researchers used a device that measured hand grip strength. This allowed them to discover the strength with which the children squeezed their hand in order to receive their desired muesli snack.

It was found that the participants' motivation was greatest for the snack with the cartoon character packaging design. The plain packaging and the packaging detailing health information were less favoured by the children.

Mathilde Kersting, lead researcher of the study, said: 'Attractively designed food packaging can tempt children to pick unhealthy foods.

'However, marketing effects of this type can also be used to promote healthy food products to children.'

The next step in the research is to determine how the appeal of school milk or wholegrain sandwiches can be increased.

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